


Wanderlust

by Kirrithian



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Found Family, Future pearl, Gen, Pearl pride, Pearl-centric (Steven Universe), Reflection, Sad/Comfort, Ten Years Later, here we are in the future, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:01:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25002067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kirrithian/pseuds/Kirrithian
Summary: Several years in the future Pearl finds herself taking stock. Things change, and sometimes they leave you behind.
Comments: 13
Kudos: 47





	Wanderlust

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to the wonderful Hundreds of Pearls team. It's been a delight working with you, and seeing all the Pearls come to life. I'm so proud of you all. Kirrithian x
> 
> Thanks to Lostinbooks for beta/editing help!

Pearl leant over the railings, watching the comings and goings of gems across Beach City, bright flashes of colour that moved up the boardwalk, through the water, and across the beach. She could even hear the exuberant shouts from the Volleyball courts, tucked around the corner from the Temple.

Another Pearl had long since come and taken on refereeing duties (Five/ten years ago? Barely anything to a gem, yet filled with lifetimes of change), a rather vibrant Orange Pearl with a loud voice, but a fair mind. It had been something of a relief at the time, all too happy to invite the gem into this new world of opportunities. But as the initial interest in Little Homeschool had slowly waned and now her own knowledge of Earth was needed less and less often, she wished she hadn't ceded quite so many such tasks away, her connections with the school and other gems fading too. She often found herself stuck back in the Beach House, slipping back into old habits and routines of cleaning and tidying simply to pass the time, reduced to a spectator in this world they'd helped make.

As the sun grew low on the horizon and the light faded, she watched a group of Pearls wander up the beach. They were laughing and chatting about their sporting excursion, snippets of replays and future training plans drifting back up to her on the breeze, each brimming with confidence that they would win the City Cup next year.

A flicker of pride rose within her. How could it not? The other Pearls had, to a Gem, made good of themselves, each and every one blossoming from uncertainty to an individual full of skill, talent, and self-worth.

There were far more impressive Pearls than The Renegade now- she hadn't heard that name in years. Instead tales came from all over of Pearls making vibrant lives of themselves: a Sky Pearl who knew all about the thousands of cultures all across Earth, and was writing the most comprehensive encyclopaedia of their joint history; the distant whispers of another who had become an engineer amongst the stars, and had recently designed a revolutionary ship that had made travel to even further planets and systems possible. There was even a fighting Pearl who had managed to get through three rounds of the latest All-Gem combat circuit, not to mention the ones who had become politicians, lawyers, farmers, artists, writers, actors and so on, from here to Homeworld; all of them developing skills for themselves, growing, changing, becoming more.

But not her. She was still here, the exact same spot as twelve years ago. All these Pearls had thrived, but she was still rooted to the past, slipping back into the same old routines. What had she done with her life besides get comfy? She'd stayed here, simply watching, as everything she was, was falling into obscurity.

Pearl watched the Pearls climb into a ship at the far end of the beach and her heart panged as, for a moment, she wanted to go with them, disappear into the deepening blue of the sky, that canvas scattered with glistening stars that slowly revealed themselves, twinkling in the fading light as they hinted at something more, something unknown.

The door behind her creaked open, carefully so as not to startle her. "Hey."

She whipped around, her eyes lighting up as soon as she saw him. "Steven!" They hugged. "It's good to see you! Do the others know you're back? Oh! If I had known I'd have sorted your room for you."

Steven chuckled, trying to placate her. "No, no, it's okay, I just wanted to drop in to see how you were all doing." His smile faded. "You're crying."

Pearl hastily wiped the tears away. "Oh, I'm just so happy to see you!"

"No, you were crying before," he said quietly. "Are you okay?"

She turned away from him, looking out over the water as her fingers tapped over the railing. "It's nothing, really."

"Are you sure? You know you can talk to me about it." She gave him a Look. "Uh," His ears tinged pink under the scrutiny, and he relented. "Garnet told me you'd been a little down lately." Pearl accepted his explanation silently, looking back out to sea.

"What's on your mind?" he asked gently.

Her head turned up, to the distant stars.

"I miss it." There was a flash of light from some ship, or a shooting star, a brief bright streak across the sky.

"Homeworld?"

"No." Pearl paused. "I miss this." She gave him a small smile. "Us. The Crystal Gems. The time we spent together. Fighting for Earth. It made me someone. And when all the Pearls came and looked up to me, the gems, teaching at Homeschool... that made me someone too. But that's gone now. They've all moved on- as they should. They're all doing so many amazing things... but I'm still here." There was a faint roar as the ship finally took off, lifting and stretching up high into the air before disappearing with a pop. Pearl sighed, her gaze on the gap in the sky where it had gone. 

"You feel like you're getting left behind."

"I- well what I meant is- It's not, I-" Pearl flustered. "Forget I said anything, it doesn't matter, it's just a silly-"

"No!" Steven stopped her. "I mean, I get it. I felt the same after Era Three. Like there wasn't a place for me. But there is. Right here, in this family." Right on cue the door opened and Garnet and Amethyst were there too. "There always will be. Don't forget that everything those other gems, all those Pearls are doing was made possible by you, by what we did. That's never going to change."

"But they're already forgetting, moving on. Things do change Steven," Pearl said. "I just haven't been keeping up."

"You don't have to!" He wrapped her up in a hug. "You don't have to keep up with everyone else so long as you're doing what makes you happy." The other two joined him. "Besides, you still have something amazing that no other Pearl, almost no other person has achieved, and no-one can ever take away from you: something more important than any trophies or accolades." He hugged her even tighter. "You're my mom."

"Steven, _Rose_ was-"

"Yes, but you brought me up. All of you," Steven said. "And as far as I know there isn't a single other gem who's done the same. And I don't think any of them could do a better job. I wouldn't want them to." They drew him tighter, buried in each other's arms, silenced in their tears. 

"Happy Mother's Day," he said.

There was a pause, then Pearl piped up, "It's July."

"Don't care."


End file.
